WATCH: Fisherman confronted by great white shark

A FISHERMAN spearing off the coast of Florida who was confronted by a great white shark has released footage of the terrifying moment, which he couldn't help but catch on camera.

Zack Spurlock was trying to catch lionfish around 25 miles off Port Canaveral for his friend's local restaurant on 2 May, when he spotted what appeared to be the 12-ft long deadly predator swimming past him.

After the creature floats by twice more then disappears, Spurlock grabs the chance to ask his companion, restaurant-owner Joe Penovich, to throw him his GoPro camera so he could film the encounter.

The resulting footage shows the enormous shark drifting away in the distance and disappearing. But at around 1 minute in Spurlock turns around, and the great white is suddenly swimming in front of him.

"I would have never seen the shark behind if it wasn't for my friends yelling at me to turn around!

"The water was crystal clear for here so it's amazing to me how incredible these large creatures are at staying in your blind spot," Spurlock wrote on YouTube.

Penovich told WKMG Local 6: "He came up and said, 'Hand me the Go Pro, there's a great white shark on the bottom.' I said, 'Are you sure about this?'"